Add, format, or delete captions in Word

You can add captions to figures, equations, or other objects. A caption is a numbered label, such as "Figure 1", that you can add to a figure, a table, an equation, or another object. It's comprised of customizable text ("Figure", "Table", "Equation" or something else that you type) followed by an ordered number or letter ("1, 2, 3..." or "a, b, c..." typically) which can be optionally followed by some additional, descriptive, text if you like.

1. Text that you select or create.

2. Number that Word inserts for you

If you later add, delete, or move captions, you can easily update the caption numbers all at once.

You can also use those captions to create a table of the captioned items for example, a table of figures or a table of equations.

What do you want to do?

Tip: If you want to be able to move the figure and caption as one object, or wrap text around the figure and caption, follow the instructions for adding captions to floating objects below.

Select the object (table, equation, figure, or another object) that you want to add a caption to.

On the References tab, in the Captions group, click Insert Caption.

In the Label list, select the label that best describes the object, such as a figure or equation. If the list doesn't provide the label you want, click New Label, type the new label in the Label box, and then click OK.

Type any text, including punctuation, that you want to appear after the label.

Click OK.

Note: Word inserts the sequential caption number as a field. If your caption looks similar to "Figure {SEQ Table \* ARABIC}", Word is displaying field codes instead of field results. To see the caption normally, press ALT+F9.

Once you've added at least one caption to your document you should see a new style displayed on the style gallery called "Caption". To change the formatting of your captions throughout your document simply right-click that style on the gallery and choose Modify. Here you can set font size, color, type and other options that will apply to your captions.

To delete a caption select it with your mouse and press Delete. If you have additional captions in your document when you're finished deleting the ones you want to remove, you should update them. Press CTRL+A to select all of the text in your document and then press F9 to update all. That will ensure that your caption numbers are correct after you've removed the ones you didn't want.